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Greetings fellow comic book enthusiasts and prepare yourselves for the bloody conclusion to X-Men: Mutant Massacre, in this week’s Ye Olde School Cafe’! This week’s column will prove to be the most savage yet, and the body count will prove it. We’ll also see the good guys finally start to turn the tide of the battle in their favor. This week’s column will cover Uncanny X-Men #212 (Writer: Chris Claremont, Art: Rick Leonardi), The Mighty Thor #374 (Writer: Walt Simonson, Art: Sal Buscema), X-Factor #11 (Writer: Louise Simonson, Art: Walt Simonson), and Uncanny X-Men #213 (Writer: Chris Claremont, Art: Alan Davis).  So, without further adieu I present the startling finish to X-Men: Mutant Massacre!

At this point in our story, the X-Men and X-Factor have basically been trying to put Band-Aids on open wounds. The Marauders have pretty much been having their way with the helpless Morlocks. There are bodies strewn everywhere in the tunnels below the city, but our heroes are going on the offensive now to put an end to it. We continue this tale by watching Wolverine stepping over corpses and not even batting an eyelash. The old canuck has seen far worse in his days, so this doesn’t really bother him. After a brief conversation with Psylocke, Wolverine continues his hunt for The Marauders. At the same time in the X-Men’s infirmary, more of the Morlocks are losing their lives. Even Nightcrawler’s life hangs on by a thread, and Storm begs to hear his laughter once more. Moira MacTaggert is doing her best with the equipment that’s available, but a hospital would be a better place for the Morlocks to have a better chance at survival. Kitty isn’t fairing much better than Kurt. She has been left in a permanent state of phasing and is being kept alive in a stasis chamber.

Next, we switch back to the tunnels where Wolverine slinks through the sewers, hoping to find one of the Marauders to get some answers and retribution. What happens though is quite the opposite. Victor Creed is in these same sewers, and he’s always looking to spill some blood. From out of nowhere, Wolverine feels a slash across his back from Sabretooth’s razor sharp claws. Meanwhile, back at the mansion, we see Colossus fall to the floor from the various injuries suffered during a vicious battle with the Marauders earlier this day. As Moira and Magneto try to help Peter, Wolverine faces an even deadlier situation against his long time nemesis, Creed. These two mean are inextricably linked by a shrouded past that both men want to remember but forget at the same time. As usual, they have some pre-fight banter about who’s going to kick whose tail. Creed goes on to tell Logan that he’s working for Mr. Sinister, and he has a plan, “that doesn’t allow for wild cards like the Morlocks or the X-Men.” Wolverine tells Sabretooth that “talk is cheap bub, show me.”

In the next scene, we see Storm and Callisto get into an altercation stemming from the fact that Callisto thinks this is all Storm’s fault. Callisto lost her leadership of the Morlocks to Ororro during a one on one battle to save the X-men’s lives not so long ago in these very same tunnels. Wolverine and Sabretooth are still battling, not one of these savages giving in an inch. Wolverine being the smarter of the two combatants though, realizes this fight could go on forever, and there are still Morlocks in need of medical attention. So he caves the tunnels in on Creed to allow for his escape to get help for the wounded Morlocks. After Logan gets the wounded Morlocks out of the tunnels, we see Storm and Callisto finish their squabble and make a deal that someday it will be settled on a more permanent basis.

The Mighty Thor is also in a fierce battle with Blockbuster and Harpoon. The Thunder God stumbled on these two Marauders just after they had impaled Angel. Thor thought at first Warren was dead, but he’s barely breathing and needs medical attention in a bad way. First though, Thor must contend with these psychotic killers. For those of you that don’t know, Blockbuster is a physical behemoth with superhuman strength and endurance. Harpoon on the other hand, isn’t a physical specimen, but has spears that he can charge (like Gambit charges his playing cards) to shock or stun an opponent. Thor initially beats them down, even with Vertigo trying to lend a hand. After this quick little tussle, Thor tries to make his way toward the surface to get Warren some help, but as he does, the roof caves in on him because Blockbuster wants another shot at him. Thor actually has his arm broken by this act and is seemingly left at Blockbuster’s mercy. As he is about to deliver what would be a crippling strike, Warren, beaten and broken, leaps onto Blockbuster’s back to try and stop him. This lasts for all of three seconds, and then Blockbuster has Angel by the throat and is about to put him out permanently. Thor is hurt but cannot let this happen, so he swings mighty Mjolnir and throws his enchanted hammer right at Blockbuster’s head, killing him! After all is done, Thor meets up with X-Factor and they take Warren topside to get him help, but Thor stays to clean up the carnage that has been left behind by this vicious assault. He is then approached by Hela (the Asgardian Goddess of Death), and she taunts him about his broken bones and how one day she will enjoy welcoming him to her dark realm of the dead. Thor defiantly pounds Mjolnir to the ground and creates a firestorm in the tunnels to incinerate the carcasses of all the dead.

X-Factor is desperate to get Warren to a hospital, and Beast and Iceman are also trying to get Caliban and Leech out of the tunnels to safety. Beast and Iceman are jumped by what appear to be Morlocks but are later revealed to be another group of underground dwellers called Tunnelers. Their leader, Berzerker, who can control and direct bolts of force or electricity, is very hot-headed, and it take some convincing by Cyclops, who has joined Beast and Iceman, to make him calm down and listen to reason. He does eventually, and he joins the Morlocks in trying to get out of the tunnels . The Tunnelers eventually make their way to the surface, but are attacked by a gang. They retaliate and begin to kill the gang members. The cops show up, but so does X-Factor and in the end, only Masque appears to survive the altercation. There is also a quick interlude involving Apocalypse. We see him gather another mutant for his inevitable strike at humanity using his fabled Four Horsemen. In the final scene we see a doctor telling the other members of X-Factor that Warren’s wings need to be amputated.

In the final act of this war, we see Rogue flying over the mansion on patrol  when she is interrupted by Psylocke. Betsy is just checking in and Rogue tells her that everything is okay. The rest of the team is doing its part to help find any clues to the whereabouts of the Marauders, but can’t due to the fact that Thor burned everything to a crisp. Magneto tells the team that he is going to look for the New Mutants, who have disappeared. He also tells the team that the Hellfire Club has asked him to join their Inner Circle and he is actually considering it. Meanwhile, Betsy makes contact with a mind entering the grounds of the mansion, but is thrown back at the ferocity of the mind she tried to enter. Sabretooth has made his way to Xavier’s School and he’s got some bad intentions as far as the X-Men are concerned. He quickly disposes of Rogue, who was taking a break from flying around on patrol. He then makes his way into the house to terrorize Betsy, but he finds her a more equal adversary than he initially thought. She tries to assault his mind, but his mind is so rage driven she has a hard time doing more than just pushing him back. Just as he’s about to disembowel her, Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men show up, and Logan versus Creed round two begins.

The two savages tear at each other like animals drawing blood, ripping flesh and taunting each other the entire time. While these two killing machines fight, Psylocke uses her mental powers to invade Creed’s mind to try and find out what is the ultimate goal of The Marauders and Sinister. Wolverine and Sabretooth seem to be at a stalemate, but then Wolverine tells Sabretooth that they have got the information they needed from his “teeny tiny mind.” After hearing this and seeing Magneto approaching, Creed decides to make an exit by jumping off of a cliff into the water below. Logan foolishly follows, but is pulled out of the water by Rogue. After all’s said and done, the team officially welcomes Betsy Braddock into the X-Men. It’s a somber scene though because of all the Morlock deaths and the wounded X-Men trying to recover in their hospital beds after this Massacre of Mutants!

There were some dire consequences from this tale, the most dire of course being Warren Worthington A.K.A. Angel losing his wings. This sent him into a tailspin that resulted in him becoming the Fourth Horseman of Apocalypse, Archangel. There was also a book, Daredevil vol, 1 #238, that Marvel tried to sell as a part in this story, but it just showed Sabretooth after his cliff jump running around New York and having a confrontation with Daredevil. Basically it was a feeble attempt to sell more DD comics.

Next week will be more X-madness with part one of…Inferno! If you like action, magic/sorcery, and Mr. Sinister, don’t dare miss this epic that saw demons and goblins running through the streets! See you next week.

Part 1-Mutant Massacre
Part 2-Mutant Massacre

Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net